Toronto Flood: Flood waters as high as Calgary’s Bow River

Record levels of rain tumbled down on Toronto, flooding much of the city as drainage systems struggled to keep up.

But the rivers in the city were pushing as much water downstream as they could manage, and water levels rose sharply. Flash floods are extremely dangerous, as walls of water can come rushing down a river with little notice. The chart below shows just how quickly water levels on Toronto’s Don River, which runs right through the downtown of the city, shot up by three metres and swamped motorists.

From a low of about 12 metres to a high of 15.1 metres, the rise began at about 3:45 p.m. and peaked at about 6:45 p.m. It remained high until about 8:30 p.m. when the water began to subside and was back to approaching normal levels by early morning Tuesday.

This compares well with Calgary, which flooded dramatically only weeks ago. That city’s Bow River went from 1.6 metres high to 4.3 metres high very quickly, as illustrated in the chart below.

You can drag your mouse over both charts to see the exact water level at any point in time.